


Knot Horticulture for the Advanced Gardener

by ncruuk



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, ncruuk's unitverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-10 22:41:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12309369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ncruuk/pseuds/ncruuk
Summary: It's time for some weeding.[A one-shot in my UNIT-verse, however as always it will make more sense and be less surreal the more of my stories you have read]





	Knot Horticulture for the Advanced Gardener

**Author's Note:**

> Another 'one-shot' within my 'UNIT-verse' in which Kate and Osgood have known each other for quite a while.
> 
> This is set a bit before the Power of Three episode (which introduces Kate Stewart into the 'new Who' era) for the purposes of the timeline within my 'UNIT-verse' I'm assuming that episode to start around the episode airdate time of early Autumn 2012.
> 
>  
> 
> If you haven't read 'A New Year…and McGillop drank (most of) his beer' (found via my author page here on AO3) yet, you're going to be thoroughly confused I'm afraid. Otherwise, this should be relatively self contained although, as always with my Kate/Osgood stories, the more of them you've read, hopefully the more enjoyable the read will be as more little bits of various jigsaws come together....
> 
>  
> 
> [There's a 'reader's guide' post I put together on tumblr if you would like a bit more guidance on how all the stories interlink.](http://ncruuk.tumblr.com/post/153132349737/ncruuks-kateosgood-fics-a-readers-guide)
> 
>  
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoy the read ahead: I'd love to hear what you think!
> 
> Style point: Blocks of italic text are to indicate text messages the character is reading

“Damn it.”  

 

It was no good, she was stuck.

 

“Os?”  Fortunately for Kate, while she was out of sight of her girlfriend, she knew Osgood would hear her call from where she was catching up on some UNIT work on the patio, taking advantage of the early Autumn sunshine.  As much as she was tempted to keep calling, Kate also knew that Os would, on hearing her call, set off to come find her rather than shout back, although how long she was going to wait before shouting again, Kate wasn’t sure.

 

“Hello….”  Osgood announced herself when she was still a few yards away and was therefore not immediately able to see what Kate’s issue was, although after another five paces it was clear.  “...oh.”

 

“Stop it.”

 

“Stop what?”  Putting her hands in her trouser pockets, Osgood looked thoughtfully at Kate.

 

“Laughing on the inside,” grumbled Kate, staying in her rather odd looking hunched over position.

 

“Okay.”  Osgood knew from experience that if Kate was grumbling in that particular voice it was best to just agree with her.  If she didn’t, they’d just end up having a grump-off with each other about laughing, and that wouldn’t solve anything, not even when she hadn’t been laughing in the first place.  But more importantly, Osgood was inclined to forgive Kate her grumpiness as judging by how little progress Kate had made since Osgood had last come round to say hello, it was clear that Kate had attempted to self-extricate herself for quite some time before calling for help.

 

“I’m stuck.”  Kate gestured blindly with her hand, trying to show Osgood where her issue was.  “There…”

 

“Where…”  Not quite sure what her girlfriend had been gesturing at, Osgood carefully stepped closer, taking care not to stand on the little plants that had survived Kate’s aggressive weeding as she approached.  “...ah.”  Now that she was stood next to the still hunched over Kate, Osgood could see exactly what the problem was and why Kate had probably been making it worse for herself.  “I see.”  Catching her lower lip between her teeth, Osgood studied Kate’s predicament.

 

“Os?”

 

“Mmm?”

 

“Some fast help please?”  Usually Kate loved Osgood’s thoughtfulness, how she’d not rush into something without first giving it a bit of thought as to what she was going to do and why, but her back was starting to really hurt.  

 

“Is the plant important?”  Osgood had no idea what it was, other than it was extremely spiky and from a distance quite pretty.  “And can I borrow your gloves please?”

 

“Pyracantha something, Orange Cadence I think, so not especially.”  Kate knew that Osgood considered plants to be ‘important’ or otherwise based on their ease of replacement, be it by propagation or purchase.  “It can withstand a good hack if that’s what you’re thinking.”  Taking off her gardening gloves required a bit of careful wiggling and shuffling as without a hand on the ground to steady herself, Kate was extremely off balance and what was an awkward and uncomfortable position became an extremely unstable and painful position.  “Here.”  Gloves finally removed, she passed them back over her shoulder for Osgood to take.  “Secateurs should be around here somewhere….”  Kate instinctively began turning her head to look for them, “....OW!” only to be rapidly reminded of her predicament.

 

“Keep still,” reminded Osgood gently as, gloves now on, she could reach down past her girlfriend’s hip and rescue the discarded secateurs.  “I think I only need to cut three bits off.”

 

“Can’t you use your penknife?”  Kate wasn’t so keen on the sound of the secateurs that close to her neck, even if she did trust Osgood implicitly.  “And only three?”  That really would be a miracle and mean she felt bad for being impatient and rushing her brilliant girlfriend.

 

“Oh, I’m talking about the plant not your hair.”  Osgood repositioned her glasses so they were securely in place, trying not to get soil on the lenses.  Ideally, she’d have preferred to go and get her safety glasses but she knew Kate’s ability to stay hunched over in her stuck position was probably nearly up.  “If I cut here…”  Osgood put her left hand lightly on the middle of Kate’s back and reached forwards with her right hand, trying not to wince when the spiky plant snagged on the sleeve of her jumper, pulling threads in a number of places.  “...like this…” she cut the stem cleanly with the secateurs, the click of the blades coming together sounding loud in this confined corner of the garden but her warning and reassuring hand on Kate’s back helped to keep Kate from jerking in surprise at the noise.  “And again…” Osgood followed the line of the stem from where it forked until she saw a place she was confident she could cut.  “...here…” she warned, relieved when Kate managed to stay relaxed.  “You okay?” she asked, concerned nevertheless.

 

“Tip top.”  If Kate’s reply came through gritted teeth, Osgood was too sympathetic to take offence.

 

“Shut your eyes.”

 

“What?”

 

“Shut your eyes Kate, this last one’s a bit closer.”

 

“Oh.”  Trusting Osgood completely, Kate shut her eyes.  “Ready.”  She didn’t want to think about where Osgood might be having to stretch to reach, instead Kate concentrated on the little patch of light pressure that was caused by Os’ hand resting on her upper back, just an inch or so above her bra fastening.

 

“Done.”  Osgood kept her hand on Kate’s back, not wanting her to straighten up and retangle herself with more of the plant.  “Just stay there for one more moment.”  Securing the secateurs with the safety clip, Osgood carefully tossed them back onto the lawn, no longer needing them.  Then, keeping her hand where it was, deciding that the soily handprint that was now decorating the back of Kate’s t-shirt was ignorable, Osgood carefully guided the section of pyracantha that she’d cut out from the hedge free from the rest of the plant.  “Okay, you should be able to come out without any more pain.”  

 

“Thanks…”  Moving carefully, conscious of how stiff she was now feeling having been crouched down in that awkward pose for close to half an hour, Kate managed to emerge from the flowerbed and, with a bit of a wince, stand up tall on the lawn.  “How bad is it?” she asked, feeling that she was still very attached to something even if she couldn’t actually feel any of its weight pulling down on her head.

 

“I’m going to need proper scissors.”  

 

“Kitchen table?” suggested Kate, resigned to the fact that her afternoon of gardening was probably done one way or another now as, even if she did manage to become foliage free with Osgood’s assistance, her back really was rather stiff now.

 

“Umm…”  Osgood was standing behind Kate, so she could see what the problem was.  “Patio would be better.”  In her attempt to cut Kate free from the hedge as quickly as possible, Osgood had managed to remove an unexpectedly large part of plant which was not especially heavy but rather more sprawling than she’d anticipated.

 

“Thank you…”  Kate tried to turn around to see Osgood, but the head movement reminded her what their current priority was, as she felt the prickly stems touch her scalp.

 

“Thank me later,” suggested Osgood, trying to keep the stems from catching hold of even more of Kate’s shoulder length hair, which was easier said than done if Kate was going to keep moving about like that, “...and stop wiggling please!”

 

“I wasn’t wiggling…” Nevertheless, Kate did try and concentrate on keeping her head still as she set off at a steady pace across the lawn towards the patio at the back of the house.  Catching sight of her reflection in the window as they went past the dining room, Kate was suddenly glad that the boys weren’t home as she realised what a sight she looked….

 

* * *

 

 

“...and one more…” warned Osgood, putting down the secateurs and tossing aside the bit of pyracantha, before picking up the scissors again.  “...just there.”  With a final neat snip, she was done, and stepped back to consider her handiwork.  “Done.”

 

“Really?”  Amazed by how quickly Osgood had managed to navigate the horrific tangle that Kate had got herself into, Kate reached up to the back of her neck and felt her hair which was finally free of any and all plant material.  “You’re wonderful!”  Smiling in relief at being able to move her head around without feeling any snags or scratches or pulls, Kate turned to Os.  “My hero,” she added sincerely, reaching out to catch hold of her girlfriend’s hand.

 

“Umm…”  Less convinced, Osgood was frowning, her lower lip caught between her teeth.

 

“What’s wrong?” Kate was immediately concerned - why was Osgood frowning?

 

“Well…”  Not sure what to say, Osgood just reached out towards Kate’s head, her hand hovering just short of actually touching Kate’s hair because, well, “...I think you’re going to need a haircut…I…”

 

Confused, Kate reached up and felt her own hair again, realising what the issue might be: while she could feel that she had hair coming down to her shoulders still, it was a bit patchy with some of it stopping just level with her jaw in some places.  Looking past Osgood, she saw for the first time the heap of hedge that had been tangled up with her, the telltale clumps of blonde hair easy to see against the dark green foliage.

 

“...have been brilliant.”  Kate stepped up closer to Osgood, wrapping her arms around the still tense shoulders of her girlfriend.  “If you hadn’t been here to help I’d have probably been bald by now…” she teased, pleased when she saw the beginnings of a smile on Os’ face.  “It’s my own silly fault.”  Leaning forwards, she kissed Osgood’s lips, disappointed when she didn’t feel them relax under her own.  “But I’ll go get it tidied up before I go into the Tower tomorrow…” promised Kate, knowing that however bad it might look now, it would have definitely been worse if it had been anyone other than Osgood trying to cut her free.  “I’m sure they can make what’s left into a suitable hairstyle.”  She was also sure that her diary could cope with the detour for once.

 

“I can’t imagine you with short hair.”

 

“I haven’t had short hair since...primary school I think.  Mother wasn’t the plaits and pigtails sort, so I was regularly trimmed back into a bob until I was old enough to win the argument.  And no...” She knew what Os was thinking.  “....you’re not seeing the pictures.”  Actually, to see the pictures of her when she was that young, they’d probably have to approach her mother, and that was not something either of them would be in a rush to do.  “I still had longish hair before Dad went…” So any photos her father did have would not shed any light on the unfortunate bob either.

 

“I’m sure you were very sweet,” declared Osgood, returning Kate’s kiss with one of her own.  “But I don’t need to see photographs when I have the real thing.”  Osgood followed up this observation with another kiss, a kiss that this time Kate joined in with, providing further confirmation were any needed that the ‘real thing’ was vastly superior to any photograph.

 

“You are still very sweet…” continued Kate when they drifted apart enough for each to recover her breathing.  “What?”

 

“Just thinking.”  Osgood chuckled when she saw Kate’s rather pointed look - clearly Kate had managed to work out that much for herself.  “Your new haircut…”

 

“What about it?”

 

“It’s going to have to be quite short, relatively speaking…”  Osgood gently eased her fingers through Kate’s hair, trapping the shortened ends between her fingers and trying to work out where they finished relative to Kate’s jaw.  “...you’ll have to wear your scarf when it gets colder…” declared Os, knowing Kate generally didn’t like to wear woolly type scarves around her neck unless it was regularly sub-zero, whereas Osgood really hated having her neck exposed in anything but the mildest of weather.   Kate didn’t know why she didn’t like scarves much otherwise - on Os they always looked so comfortable and warming, but whenever she tried to wear one it just went wrong and she felt a bit of a mess.

 

“Have the world on my shoulders you mean?” teased Kate, knowing exactly which scarf Osgood was talking about.  There was one pashmina-style scarf that Kate did wear quite a lot - it was cotton rather than wool, and she could wear it looped around her neck so that she didn’t have to worry about the ends getting in the way.  Part of the attraction to her of wearing it was the pattern which, when the scarf was knotted that way, required a second look to see that it was actually a world map.  The resultant visual pun appealed to Kate’s sense of humour, with the joke sufficiently hidden that only a very select few actually noticed it.

 

“Take it with you tomorrow, for after the cut so you start getting used to it…and you’ve got that MoD meeting...” suggested Osgood, letting the fine strands of hair fall out from her fingers as she noticed another ‘side effect’ of Kate’s unintended experiment with a shorter hairstyle, and leaned in to start kissing Kate’s neck.

 

“Mmm…”  One day she really would try and work out how Osgood was quite so accurate at finding that particular spot on her neck, the one that made her virtually incoherent, but so far Kate had always forgotten by the time Os had finished kissing her neck.  “...surprise bonus…” she joked, or tried to:  Osgood really was ridiculously good at making thinking impossibly difficult when she kissed her  _ there _ , especially as she then usually followed it with a kiss or two in the direction of…

 

“Pffft!”  Osgood abruptly stopped her kissing and started making a rather unpleasant spitting and spluttering sound.

 

“What’s the matter?”  Kate’s first thought was to the pyracantha, with memories of warning the boys when they were younger to not eat the berries as they were toxic, but it wasn’t berry season.

 

“Soil.  Shower.”  Osgood found her handkerchief in her right hand trouser pocket and wiped her mouth.

 

“Oh, sorry…”  Kate looked down at herself, noticing the caked mud and scratches to her bare forearms - Osgood was right, she did need a shower.  “...I’ll...ow!”  Gingerly she reached up and rubbed at her neck which was now leading the rest of her tired back muscles in a disgruntled chorus of complaints.

 

“Come on you…” Osgood methodically stacked up her files, deciding it was starting to get a bit too chilly on the patio to continue working now anyway.  “...I’ll run you a bath… hey!”  Startled, Osgood jerked backwards, wondering what it was that had just swept across the bare skin of her back, meaning it was inside her shirt, only to see her girlfriend smirking while holding up her very muddy hands.  “What have you….”  Putting down her now tidy stack of files, Osgood reached behind her and discovered that Kate had at some point managed to untuck her shirt, which at least explained how she’d felt something on her bare skin.  “I’m muddy aren’t I?”  It wasn’t a complex conclusion to form given all the evidence.

 

“Probably…”  Kate wiped her hands on her jeans, which were already condemned to the wash so a bit more mud didn’t really make any difference.  “...guess you need a bath too…”

 

“I could shower…”  Osgood picked up her files and the kitchen scissors and the secateurs that normally lived in the conservatory, not intending to have a shower if there was a perfectly pleasant bathtub of warm water with added girlfriend also available, but enjoying the gentle teasing.  Based on the mumble she thought she’d just heard come from Kate, her thoughts were clearly shared.  “...or let you have the first bath - the new immersion’s been on so we should have enough hot water for at least two baths now…”  That had been the reason why Kate had retreated to such a big day of gardening in the first place, with the plumber making better progress in Osgood’s more technically informed presence.  “...you’re trying to think of a loofah joke.”

 

“No I’m not.”  Except they both knew she absolutely had been.  “Well, maybe a little.”

 

“Daft fool…” Os kissed Kate on the nose, before turning around and heading for the house.  “Last one in the bath gets the taps.”

 

“That’s not fair…”

 

* * *

  
  


“You cheated.”

 

“How did I cheat?” asked Osgood as she waited for Kate to settle back against her after topping up the bath with more hot water.

 

“You’re not sitting by the taps…”  Kate had, much to her surprise, been first in the bath despite Osgood’s head start, but then Osgood had gone via the study to put away her work whereas Kate had just headed straight for the bath.

 

“I can move?” As Os  made the offer, Kate was finally comfortably settled against her and, based on the contented sigh that had accompanied the end of Kate’s fidgeting, Osgood was fairly confident it was an offer that wouldn’t be accepted. 

 

“No need…” The combination of the warm water and Os was making her stiff back almost a distant memory.  “Comfy…”

 

“Good.”  

 

Humming happily to herself, Osgood was just glad that aside from the odd small scratch, Kate’s entanglement with the hedge had only resulted in an unscheduled trip to the hairdressers tomorrow morning.

 

Taking advantage of the opportunity presented to her, Osgood set about rectifying her earlier failure and began to kiss Kate’s now soil free neck, not minding if she was occasionally impeded by a damp strand or two of shoulder-length blonde hair.  After almost eight years of loving Kate, Osgood was used to that by now….then again, perhaps that was another advantage of a shorter hairstyle?  

 

* * *

  
  
  


“Morning McGillop.”

 

“Boss!”  Surprised, McGillop looked up at her, not having expected to see Kate Stewart stood in the lab doorway.  “Are we going somewhere?”  Seeing her frown, he gestured awkwardly towards her - he couldn’t think of any other reason why she’d be still wearing her coat and scarf at almost 11am on a Monday morning unless there was an incident.  “I must have missed the call…”  Feeling increasingly nervous, he started to hunt through his pockets for his phone, wondering why he hadn’t heard the call.

 

“Sorry McGillop.”  Kate loosened her scarf a fraction but didn’t take it off.  “No call, I’m just returning from an appointment.”  Technically correct, as she had rung and made an appointment to see the hairdresser the moment they’d opened.  “Is Osgood around?”

 

“Ah, Osgood…”  He thought for a moment while trying to work out what it was about his Boss that was currently unsettling him.  “...she’s assisting the project team in Chem-2.”  More like supervising them closely so they didn’t accidentally magnetise themselves again, but it wasn’t his place to tell the Boss that.  “She should be back this afternoon.”

 

“Thanks.”  Nodding her understanding, Kate started to turn to leave the lab, glad McGillop wasn’t the sort of person who would insist on taking a message for her.

 

“Uh Boss?”

 

“Yes McGillop?”  She’d worked at the Tower for almost 3 years now, with McGillop being one of the few to have survived the immediate post-Torchwood review, mostly because he’d been on paternity leave at the time, and never once had he offered to take a message.  Now was a really bad time for him to start.

 

“Have you had your haircut?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“It’s nice.”  McGillop blushed, realising how his automatic ‘compliment someone when you don’t know what else to say’ reflex was actually coming across.

 

“Thank you.  It’s certainly different,” agreed Kate, knowing what he’d meant.  “Takes a bit of getting used to.”

 

“My wife said the same thing, but she was glad because of the twins.”

 

“You’ve lost me.”  Kate leaned against the doorframe, intrigued.  “Sorry.”

 

“My wife had her long hair cut short when the twins were about 10 weeks old.”

 

“Ah, the grabbing stage.”  Kate was familiar with the attraction that long hair held for tiny babies.  “Gordy was much the same, but there was only one of him so that certainly makes it easier.  How old are they now?”

 

“Just turned three.”

 

“A bit before your wife can start wearing dangly earrings then.”  That had been her real problem with Gordy - he’d been fascinated by her earrings and long ones were extra interesting because he could turn them round and look at them from all angles, unaware of how uncomfortable he was making it for her.

 

“Oh.”  Blinking, McGillop thought about that.  He hadn’t noticed, but Dr Stewart was right - he couldn’t remember seeing his wife wearing long earrings in ages.  “Thanks…”  He’d been about to thank her for saving him an embarrassing moment with his wife when she unwrapped his birthday present which he would now be changing to non-painful earrings, but Kate had gone.

 

* * *

  
  


“Hello?”  Kate had answered her mobile without looking at the screen to see who it was, already late for her meeting in Whitehall.

 

“Is this a bad moment?” asked Osgood, trapping her mobile between her ear and shoulder while she rummaged through her rucksack for an apple.  She’d spent longer than she’d intended with Chem-2 and was suddenly conscious of missing lunch.

 

“One sec Os.  Sorry I’m late…”

 

Osgood listened to Kate apologising to Jenkins for being late and assuring him she was very happy to be half an hour late to the meeting in Whitehall with the MoD if he didn’t want the hassle of a police escort, finding her apple just as she heard the car door close behind Kate.

 

“...right, I’m all yours.”  Kate gave Osgood her full attention as she watched the Troop guard salute them as Tommy Jenkins steered the black official car out of the Tower and slotted into his place amongst the police escort that would regrettably see her arrive only a few minutes late for her meeting.  “Everything okay?”

 

“Fine.”  Osgood polished her apple on her sleeve then decided not to take a bite of it until after she’d finished her call with Kate.  “Have you got a cold?”

 

“What?”  Surprised by the question, Kate took a precautionary sniff or two before answering.  “No.  Why do you ask?”

 

“McGillop said you were looking for me, and wearing a scarf.”  It had been an unexpected event, as not only did McGillop generally not notice what his colleagues were wearing, he certainly wouldn’t comment about it to Osgood.

 

“He noticed my haircut, told me it was nice.”

 

“You do know ‘nice’ is McGillop for ‘different’?” checked Osgood, seeing how McGillop would then remember Kate had been looking for her and that there had been something notable about her appearance.

 

“I remembered - did you know he has twins?”

 

“Yes, they’ve just turned three.”  Osgood took her glasses off, not needing to see to be able to picture Kate on her phone, looking out of the car window as central London went by, bathed in blue and red flashing light.  “You keep forgetting they’d just been born the month before you transferred.”  Not that Osgood was either surprised or concerned - there had been plenty going on then, and Kate had to remember rather more than most.  In the grand scheme of UNIT things, if she didn’t share his lab space, Osgood wasn’t certain she’d have remembered how old McGillop’s twins were either.  “You were wearing your scarf?” prompted Osgood, knowing that Kate would soon be at the MoD.

 

“Still am.”  Kate reached down and fiddled with it, making sure the folds of the fabric weren’t making it too easy to see that she was quite literally carrying the world (well, a Mercator projection cartographic version of the world) on her shoulders.  She didn’t mind people knowing what her scarf pattern was, but she suspected the people she was about to be patronised by wouldn’t appreciate the humour.  “But I’ve not got a cold.”

 

“Oh.”  Osgood frowned, uncertain what she could logically infer from her girlfriend’s statements.

 

“I do however now have a very neat and short haircut, with no hair covering any part of my neck.”

 

“Ah.”  Osgood was about to point out that it wasn’t her fault that Kate had needed a new haircut as, in Kate’s own words yesterday, without Osgood being able to cut her free, Kate would have probably taken more drastic action.  

 

But being Osgood, she didn’t.

 

Being Osgood, she remembered what else had happened after Kate was no longer tangled up with the pyracantha.

 

And being Osgood, she managed to form a new conclusion based on those memories and Kate’s statements.

 

“You’re not wearing the scarf because you have a cold or have a cold neck.”

 

“No.  And don’t apologise!”  Kate would admit to being surprised when she’d seen what her neck looked like once the hairdresser had finished her new haircut, but she was neither sorry about what she saw nor cross with Osgood.

 

“But…”

 

“But nothing!  Hair grows…”  Kate saw they were approaching the right turn into Horse Guards Avenue, meaning she would be very shortly getting out of the car.  “...and I can learn to love scarves and polo necks.”

 

“I…”  Osgood was certain she was blushing bright red now - it had never occurred to her that she might have been leaving the occasional mark or two on her girlfriend’s neck but she supposed she must have been doing so for years and neither of them ever noticed.  

 

“I have to go Os…”  Kate really would prefer to stay talking to her girlfriend but unfortunately UNIT and duty was calling, no doubt pompously and at length.  “Sorry.”

 

“Good luck with the meeting.” 

 

Not at all phased by the abrupt end to the call, Osgood put her phone aside and put her glasses back on as she took a large bite of her apple.  After a thoughtful couple of chews, she began to grin and reached for her phone, typing out a quick text message, then after pressing send, typed another brief follow-up..

 

* * *

 

 

Over at the MoD, Kate was waiting for the lift when she heard her phone announce that she had a text message.  On the off chance that it might provide her with an eleventh hour excuse to escape this meeting, she found her phone in her raincoat pocket as a second message alert sounded.

 

_ Guess there is one advantage of a loofah after all. _

 

_ Should I buy you one on my way home? _

  
  


Never before had Kate been so glad of a very slow lift, as it gave her the chance to send a brief and to the point reply, all too aware that her meeting ‘host’ was showing a little too much interest in what was holding her attention.

 

“Team struggling without you?” he asked in his curiously sycophantic way that always had Kate wanting to take several steps back.

 

“On the contrary…”  Kate pressed send after typing out her short reply and put her phone away, but not before she remembered to put it to silent.  “...outperforming all expectations…”

 

* * *

 

 

Osgood had just finished her second bite of her apple when she heard her phone announce she had a text message.  Not expecting anyone to be trying to contact her, Osgood carried on reading her report and finishing her apple.  It was therefore another half an hour or so until she had finished the report before she went and looked at it.

 

It was from Kate, which surprised Osgood as she’d not expected the meeting to finish for at least another two hours, but then she saw the message time and realised Kate must have seen her messages before she went into the meeting.

 

_ Your call.  Loofah means taps end until cut grows out.  K x _

 

Laughing, Osgood decided she’d take the rest of her reports home to read, having not gone via the chemist to buy a loofah.  But first she might just look up how fast hair grew...

**Author's Note:**

> That particular scarf knot that Kate favours is actually called the Parisian Knot. So something else I've learned solely because of a fic I was writing...and probably one of the more useful/less random to boot.
> 
> The alternative title to this fic was going to be 'The Fandom Hair Saga: Kate Stewart Edition' since apparently practically every fandom I'm ever in is going to have some hair randomness inflicted on one or more of the characters (Star Trek Voyager, I'm looking at you as being 'ground zero' for this, though it's not a short list once I get going....).


End file.
